Sowing Seeds in Danny

Sowing Seeds in Danny by Nellie L. McClung
This story is lovingly dedicated to my dear mother.
"SO MANY FAITHS--SO MANY CREEDS,-- SO MANY PATHS
THAT WIND AND WIND WHILE JUST THE ART OF BEING
KIND,-- IS WHAT THE OLD WORLD NEEDS!"

People of the Story
MRS. BURTON FRANCIS--a dreamy woman, who has beautiful
theories.
MR. FRANCIS--her silent husband.
CAMILLA ROSE--a capable young woman who looks after Mrs.
Francis's domestic affairs, and occasionally helps her to apply her
theories.
THE WATSON FAMILY, consisting of--
JOHN WATSON--a man of few words who works on the "Section."
MRS. WATSON--who washes for Mrs. Francis.
PEARL WATSON--an imaginative, clever little girl, twelve years old,
who is the mainstay of the family.
MARY WATSON--a younger sister.
TEDDY WATSON.
BILLY WATSON.
JIMMY WATSON.

PATSEY WATSON.
TOMMY WATSON.
ROBERT ROBLIN WATSON, known as "Bugsey."
DANIEL MULCAHEY WATSON--"Wee Danny."
"Teddy will be fourteen on St. Patrick's Day and Danny will be four
come March."
MRS. McGUIRE--an elderly Irishwoman of uncertain temper who
lives on the next lot.
DR. BARNER--the old doctor of the village, clever man in his
profession, but of intemperate habits.
MARY BARNER--his beautiful daughter.
DR. HORACE CLAY--a young doctor, who has recently come to the
village.
REV. HUGH GRANTLEY--the young minister.
SAMUEL MOTHERWELL--a well off but very stingy farmer.
MRS. MOTHERWELL--his wife.
TOM MOTHERWELL--their son.
ARTHUR WEMYSS--a young Englishman who is trying to learn to
farm.
JIM RUSSELL--an ambitious young farmer who lives near the
Motherwells.
JAMES DUCKER--a retired farmer, who has political aspirations.

CONTENTS
I. Sowing Seeds in Danny II. The Old Doctor III. The Pink Lady IV.
The Band of Hope V. The Relict of the Late McGuire VI. The Musical
Sense VII. "One of Manitoba's Prosperous Farmers" VIII. The Other
Doctor IX. The Live Wire X. The Butcher Ride XI. How Pearl Watson
Wiped out the Stain XII. From Camilla's Diary XIII. The Fifth Son
XIV. The Faith that Moveth Mountains XV. "Inasmuch" XVI. How
Polly Went Home XVII. "Egbert and Edythe" XVIII. The Party at
Slater's XIX. Pearl's Diary XX. Tom's New Viewpoint XXI. The Crack
in the Granite XXII. Shadows XXIII. Saved XXIV. The Harvest XXV.
Cupid's Emissary XXVI. The Thanksgiving Conclusion: Convincing
Camilla

Sowing Seeds in Danny
CHAPTER I
SOWING SEEDS IN DANNY
In her comfortable sitting room Mrs. J. Burton Francis sat, at peace
with herself and all mankind. The glory of the short winter afternoon
streamed into the room and touched with new warmth and tenderness
the face of a Madonna on the wall.
The whole room suggested peace. The quiet elegance of its furnishings,
the soft leather-bound books on the table, the dreamy face of the
occupant, who sat with folded hands looking out of the window, were
all in strange contrast to the dreariness of the scene below, where the
one long street of the little Manitoba town, piled high with snow,
stretched away into the level, white, never-ending prairie. A farmer
tried to force his tired horses through the drifts; a little boy with a
milk-pail plodded bravely from door to door, sometimes laying down
his burden to blow his breath on his stinging fingers.
The only sound that disturbed the quiet of the afternoon in Mrs.

Francis's sitting room was the regular rub-rub of the wash-board in the
kitchen below.
"Mrs. Watson is slow with the washing to-day," Mrs. Francis
murmured with a look of concern on her usually placid face. "Possibly
she is not well. I will call her and see."
"Mrs. Watson, will you come upstairs, please?" she called from the
stairway.
Mrs. Watson, slow and shambling, came up the stairs, and stood in the
doorway wiping her face on her apron.
"Is it me ye want ma'am?" she asked when she had recovered her
breath.
"Yes, Mrs. Watson," Mrs. Francis said sweetly. "I thought perhaps you
were not feeling well to-day. I have not heard you singing at your work,
and the washing seems to have gone slowly. You must be very careful
of your health, and not overdo your strength."
While she was speaking, Mrs. Watson's eyes were busy with the room,
the pictures on the wall, the cosey window-seat with its numerous
cushions; the warmth and brightness of it all brought a glow to her tired
face.
"Yes, ma'am," she said, "thank ye kindly, ma'am. It is very kind of ye
to be thinkin' o' the likes of me."
"Oh, we should always think of others, you know," Mrs. Francis replied
quickly with her most winning smile, as she seated herself in a
rocking-chair. "Are the children all well? Dear little Danny, how is
he?"
"Indade, ma'am, that same Danny is the upsettinest one of the nine, and
him only four come March. It was only this morn's mornin' that he sez
to me, sez he, as I was